About this role
<div><div style="padding:10.0px 0.0px;border:1.0px solid transparent"><div style="font-size:16.0px;word-wrap:break-word"><H2 style="font-size:1.0em;margin:0.0px">Job Summary</H2> </div><div><p>Sovereign AI is driving one of the largest infrastructure buildouts Europe has seen since the hyperscale wave. Governments are committing significant capital. Entrepreneurs are building GPU-dense data centers that didn’t exist 18 months ago. Many of these players haven’t chosen a storage partner yet — they’re making foundational decisions now that will shape their architectures for years.</p> <p> </p> <p>This role puts you at the centre of that market!</p> <p> </p> <p>NetApp is investing in the neocloud and sovereign-cloud segment as a strategic growth area. This is not a mature territory with an inherited pipeline — it’s a new market, a small team, and an open brief. You’ll identify the customers, build the relationships, bring the right internal teams to the table, and help shape the approach as the market develops.</p> <p> </p> <p>This is a business development position focused on new customer acquisition — not traditional account management. You’ll proactively identify and build relationships with sovereign AI clouds, neoclouds, and entrepreneur-led AI data center builders across Europe.</p> <p style="background-color:white;margin:0.0cm;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Aptos, sans-serif"> </p></div></div><div style="padding:10.0px 0.0px;border:1.0px solid transparent"><div style="font-size:16.0px;word-wrap:break-word"><H2 style="font-size:1.0em;margin:0.0px">What you’ll do</H2> </div><div><ul style="list-style-type:disc"> <li style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Identify and pursue new business opportunities in the neocloud and sovereign-cloud ecosystem — tracking external signals (government subsidies, data center planning applications, GPU procurement patterns, executive moves, financing rounds) and building pipeline from the ground up.</li> <li style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Develop and execute strategic account plans to drive revenue growth within a defined set of neocloud, sovereign AI, and AI data center builder accounts across EMEA.</li> <li style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Bring internal teams together — product, engineering, SA/SE, and leadership — to deliver what the customer needs, including advocating for customer requirements inside NetApp.</li> <li style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Co-develop market presence with Solutions Architects and partners: joint GTM offers, reference architectures, customer stories, and thought leadership that builds NetApp’s position in the AI infrastructure space.</li> <li style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Build relationships with partners who may not yet work with NetApp — GPU resellers, data center developers, sovereignty primes, financing players, AI-platform ISVs, and prime integrators.</li> <li style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Stay current on the AI infrastructure stack: data center builds, storage performance for training and inferencing workloads, data pipelines, data lakes, checkpointing, and model-serving architectures. Hold credible technical conversations with CTOs.</li> <li style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Represent NetApp at executive level with neocloud founders, sovereign-cloud decision-makers, and government bodies.</li> <li style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Monitor market dynamics — consolidation, funding shifts, regulatory changes, GPU supply constraints, sovereignty mandates — and feed strategic insights back to leadership.</li> </ul> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>How You'll Operate</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <ul style="list-style-type:disc"> <li style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Small team, direct leadership access</strong> — short decision chains, not layers of management between you and the people who can say yes.</li> <li style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>You shape the approach</strong> — there’s no inherited territory plan or established channel motion. You’ll build it based on what you learn in the market.</li> <li style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Resources behind you</strong> — NetApp’s engineering, product, and SA teams are available to support. The skill is knowing when and how to bring them in.</li> <li style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Strategic priority</strong> — leadership treats this segment as a growth investment, not a side initiative.</li> </ul></div></div><div style="padding:10.0px 0.0px;border:1.0px solid transparent"><div style="font-size:16.0px;word-wrap:break-word"><H2 style="font-size:1.0em;margin:0.0px">What you bring</H2> </div><div><ul style="list-style-type:disc"> <li>10+ years in business development or strategic account roles, with proven success building pipeline in new or emerging markets.</li> <li>Strong fluency in AI infrastructure: data center builds, storage for training/inference, data pipelines, GPU clusters, and the operating models of neocloud providers.</li> <li>Executive presence with the ability to engage C‑suite and government stakeholders in ambiguous, high‑stakes situations.</li> <li>Demonstrated ability to align and influence cross‑functional teams (product, engineering, SA/SE, leadership) to win complex deals without direct authority.</li> <li>High intellectual curiosity and commitment to continuous learning in a rapidly evolving market.</li> <li>Willingness to travel across EMEA as needed.</li> </ul> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Strong Plus</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <ul style="list-style-type:disc"> <li>Existing relationships within the neocloud, sovereign‑cloud, or AI data‑center ecosystem in EMEA.</li> <li>Connections with prime integrators, government subsidy programs, or sovereign AI initiatives.</li> <li>Experience co‑developing market presence with technical teams and partners (joint GTM, reference architectures, events, thought leadership).</li> <li>Ability to understand a customer’s business model, unit economics, and competitive landscape before positioning solutions.</li> <li>Storage knowledge is beneficial but not required; candidates from traditional storage backgrounds should demonstrate involvement in AI‑related deals and a modern understanding of data/AI infrastructure.</li> </ul> <p> </p> <p><em><strong>Note to Candidates</strong></em> You don’t need to meet every requirement. If you see yourself in most of this profile and have the drive to learn the rest, we encourage you to apply.</p> <p> </p> <p><em><strong>What This Role Builds for You</strong></em></p> <p> </p> <ul style="list-style-type:disc"> <li>A network across Europe’s emerging sovereign AI ecosystem — access that is difficult to build from the outside.</li> <li>Deep expertise in one of the fastest‑growing infrastructure segments in the market.</li> <li>Experience shaping a market from early stages, valuable for future leadership, startup, or advisory paths.</li> <li>High visibility with NetApp senior leadership as someone who builds new capabilities, not just manages existing ones.</li> </ul> <p> </p> <p><em><strong>This Role May Not Be the Right Fit If</strong></em></p> <p> </p> <ul style="list-style-type:disc"> <li>You prefer working from a named account list with established relationships and warm pipeline.</li> <li>You are uncomfortable with ambiguity — this market is still forming and the playbook is not yet defined.</li> <li>You view storage as the full conversation rather than an entry point into broader data‑infrastructure strategy.</li> <li>You thrive only in structured enterprise sales cycles rather than fast‑moving, founder‑led buying processes.</li> <li>You rely on inbound leads rather than proactively sourcing and shaping opportunities.</li> </ul></div></div></div>